


In the Cards

by Lleu



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Mythomagic, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-30
Updated: 2013-12-30
Packaged: 2018-01-06 16:33:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1109067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lleu/pseuds/Lleu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"When Jason first mentioned in passing that he'd used to play the card game Mythomagic at a competitive level, the whole conversation stopped."</p><p>Annabeth wants to enter a Mythomagic tournament and convinces Jason to join her. Piper and Percy tag along to watch. At the tournament, Jason meets Nico.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Cards

**Author's Note:**

> I have never been to a real TCG tournament, so I have no idea how they work. All the details here are either lifted directly from or adapted from the way fencing tournaments, which I have been in a number of, work.

When Jason first mentioned in passing that he'd used to play the card game Mythomagic at a competitive level, the whole conversation stopped.

Percy did a double take. "Wait, what?"

"I...used to play Mythomagic competitively," Jason said. "You know, the trading card game."

"Yeah, I got that," Percy said. "For real?"

"...Yes..."

"What do you mean 'competitively'?" Piper asked.

"I mean I used to be in tournaments," Jason said.

"There are _tournaments_?" Annabeth asked, intrigued.

"I have a rating," Jason said, flushing. "I'm a D2009."

"Is that good?" Percy asked.

"Ratings go from A to E, so D is second-lowest. The 2009 is the year I got it."

"Still," Piper said, "that's something. I didn't know you were into Mythomagic!"

"We should go to a tournament sometime," Annabeth said. "See you in action."

"I don't know..." Jason said doubtfully. "It's been a long time since I played competitively. I think my WMA membership expired a couple years ago, too."

"WMA?" Piper asked.

"The World Mythomagic Association," Jason explained.

"C'mon, Jason, it'll be fun," Annabeth said. "I'll enter, too, if you teach me how to play."

He considered. It might _actually_ be fun: he'd been lying about his WMA membership; he still renewed it every year. It was only $15, so why not? And he did miss playing tournaments sometimes. "Fine. I have to make sure my cards are still tournament-legal, first, though, and you'll have to get a deck for yourself, Annabeth. I'll check and see when the next tournament around here is."

"Don't sound so grim," Annabeth said. "It'll be great."

"Fair warning: it'll mean waking up early on a Saturday," Jason said.

"As long as I just have to watch and not play myself, I'll be fine," Percy said, and Piper nodded.

"All right..." Jason said. "Get ready to find out just how geeky I secretly am."

"Don't worry," Piper said, "we already know you're a nerd."

"You haven't heard me talk Mythomagic strategy yet."

—

The next tournament in their area turned out to be about a month later, and Annabeth insisted on going, even though Jason warned her it would be fairly competitive for a starter tournament — there were forty people signed up, including an A, 3 Bs, and 6 Cs, so there'd potentially be a B up for grabs.

"Great!" was Annabeth's response. "I'll catch them all off-guard."

Jason had to admit she _was_ very good at Mythomagic. She'd opted for a demigod-only deck, which could be a risky choice in the hands of a new player, but she seemed sure of herself, and she won as many of their practice games as she lost.

Jason himself dug out his old cards, sorted through the current official lists to find which ones he was still allowed to use, and rebuilt his old Jupiter deck. It was pretty straightforward, lots of power and not a lot of finesse, but it got going quickly — Jason liked to win early, while his opponent was still building up their strength. Besides, he was counting on players using new sets not be familiar with his old strategy. Still, he threw in a few extra divine intervention cards, just in case.

After a few days of Annabeth pestering him to practice with her, he pointed out that she should probably try her strategy against more than one type of deck, and that she'd find more people playing at their local gaming store. She texted him triumphantly at 11pm that Friday night, announcing that she'd beat everyone who came in, and then again on Saturday to say she'd lost to an underworld deck, but she had some ideas on how to get around it next time. Jason just smiled and shook his head. When Annabeth put her mind to something, nothing could stop her.

Finally, it was the tournament weekend. Percy found out at the last minute that he had to work a shift Saturday morning, but he said he'd join them afterwards. As it was, Annabeth and Piper showed up bright and early (well, 9:30am) at Jason's apartment in Annabeth's car.

"Good morning, soon-to-be enemy," Annabeth said as he opened the door.

"Good morning, Annabeth," Jason said blearily, still in the process of waking up. "Morning, Piper."

"Morning, Jason," Piper said. "We brought you some coffee."

" _Thank you_ ," Jason said, slipping into the back seat. Piper passed him a warm cup of coffee as they pulled back into the road and headed towards the college, whose gaming club had organized the event. The tournament was being held in one of the class buildings.

Once they got inside, Jason and Annabeth had to present their decks for inspection to make sure all the cards were acceptable for regulation play. Jason's deck raised some eyebrows, but all his cards were technically legal, so a few minutes later the three of them were sitting down in the chairs arrayed along the walls, waiting for the initial seeding and pool assignments to be posted.

"How does this work again?" Piper asked.

"They rank us based on rating," Annabeth said, "and then they split us into pools of five or six people. We play short-form games with smaller decks against all the people in our pool, then based on how we do with that, we get ranked again for an elimination round."

"I see. I think," Piper said.

"Look!" Jason pointed. "They're posting pool assignments. We'd better go see."

—

Nico had been playing in tournaments in the area for almost a year and a half now, and he'd just earned his C2013 a few weeks before at a big tournament in Boston. His friends at college sometimes teased him amiably about how much time he spent on Mythomagic, but he just shrugged it off: he _liked_ tournaments. He liked the atmosphere, he liked playing Mythomagic, and he liked _winning_ — he was good at it.

He also liked the feeling of looking at a list of players and recognizing their names. There was a sense of camaraderie among players. He'd beaten that guy at the Olympus Classic in March. She played a surprisingly strong early game for someone using an underworld deck. (Nico knew all too well that the early game was his own deck's main weakness; he relied on a combination of divine intervention cards and blind luck to make it through the first five or ten turns.) Plus, of course, there was the matter of Robert Brock.

Robert Brock, B2012, played with an Aphrodite/Venus-themed mixed Greek and Roman deck. He'd beaten Nico every time they played, and sneered while he did it. He was Nico's archrival, whether he knew it or not.

Robert Brock was there, of course. He always was. Most of the other names on the list of entrants were familiar — there were only forty people there, after all. But one of the four other names in his pool stuck out: Jason Grace, D2009. Nico wondered if he was trying to get back into the game after a break or if he was just new to their area and had never managed to do better than whenever he got his D.

When they gathered around their assigned table, he discovered that Jason was around his age, maybe a year or two older. He had short blond hair and what Nico had to admit were very nice arms. Nico guessed former player coming back to the game.

As luck would have it, he ended up playing against Jason right off the bat.

"Hey, I'm Jason," Jason said, despite the fact that this was obvious from the fact that the referee had just called them by their first names when announcing they were up first.

"Hi," Nico said. Jason extended his hand, which Nico cautiously shook. "I'm Nico."

"Nice to meet you, Nico," Jason said. "It's been a while since I played regularly, so I'm a bit rusty."

"Well, don't expect me to go easy on you," Nico warned, and Jason laughed.

"Don't worry, I won't."

Inexplicably, Nico found himself drawn into conversation. Jason was someone who liked to chat while he played — after confirming with Nico that it wouldn't disrupt his thought process. Jason's manner caught Nico completely off-guard, and suddenly he found himself telling Jason how he'd gotten into Mythomagic freshman year through the gaming club at _his_ college and started playing seriously in the middle of sophomore year. He was a junior now.

Jason, he learned, was just out of college and currently working as a Latin teacher at a local private school, although he hoped to save up enough money to get an MLS and work in a library somewhere. "I've always felt most at home around books," he said, and Nico found himself agreeing.

Jason, it turned out, was here because his friends were curious about Mythomagic tournaments. One of them had even entered, just to see what would happen.

Nico got lucky — he drew his Hades card on the second turn; with the boost to Hades's power after Jason's first attack, it only took him a few turns to wear down Jason's defenses.

"Good game," Jason said when Nico won, and part of Nico wanted to apologize. Instead he settled on the truth.

"I probably would have lost if I hadn't drawn Hades so early. I've never seen most of your cards — I'd have no idea how to play against them."

"That's what I was counting on," Jason said, grinning.

The rest of their pool went as Nico had expected: he lost to the A and beat the E and the unrated player by a healthy margin. Jason went on to do the same. Seeding for the single elimination round was determined by a combination of rating, win/loss ratio, and average victory points earned during play. When the second round seeding was posted, Nico saw that he was in twelfth; lower than he would have liked, but a reasonable start. He was better in the long-form games, in any case. There was a murmur of surprise among those looking at the score sheet when they saw that one Annabeth Chase, Unrated, was seeded sixth. Nico looked around and saw Jason congratulating a young woman — Annabeth must be his friend who entered. Robert Brock was seeded eighth.

—

There was a forty-five minute break for lunch, during which the three of them drove to a nearby McDonald's ("Getting takeout somewhere is almost always cheaper than buying whatever food the organizers are selling," Jason informed them). Percy arrived a few minutes after they got back, and Annabeth excitedly ran through what had happened in pools.

There were only forty players in the tournament, so the top 24, including both Nico and Annabeth, had bys for the first round. Jason, seeded twenty-eighth, was not so lucky. Fortunately, his opponent (Harry McGowan, E2012) was seeded thirty-seventh. It was a quick game, even with the full decks: Jason drew Hercules on the first turn and won on the tenth. Then he got a few minutes break before the second round, during which he went to wait by the score sheet with Annabeth and Piper.

"This is fun!" Piper said.

" _Really_?" Jason asked, skeptical.

"I mean, it's not something I'd want to do every weekend," she clarified, "but it's so interesting! And I like supporting my friends."

"How about you, Annabeth?" Jason asked. "Ready for your second round?"

"I hope so," she said. "This is much more stressful than I thought it was going to be!"

"You'll do fine," he said by way of reassurance. "Just stay calm and stay focused. And remember that there's really no pressure — being seeded sixth going into the elimination round is already a big accomplishment."

"I know," Annabeth said, "but now that I've had a taste of victory I don't want to stop. I want to _win_."

"Well, good luck, then," Jason said. "We'll be rooting for you."

The last game (Lachlan Rankin, E2013 vs. Amy Sanders, unrated — Amy won) finished about twenty minutes later, and before they knew it everyone was being called over to tables for the round of thirty-two.

Annabeth and Nico had what should be easy matches, against the twenty-seventh and twenty-first seeds (John Harrison, D2012 and Lucy Travers, E2013) respectively. Jason, however, was up against the number five seed: Locke Martin, B2013.

Locke was confident, Jason could tell; he hoped it would turn out to be overconfidence. He looked down at his deck, a little worn around the edges, and shook his head: this was where the age of his cards would have to count the most. He just hoped Locke hadn't been playing too long.

It was a very close game. Jason's deck was unusually slow to start, which gave Locke time to build up some defenses. By the time they hit turn nine, Jason was starting to worry he wouldn't be able to last long enough to pull off a win. On turn fifteen, though, he drew a divine intervention card that let him pull off a series of synergy plays that Locke had clearly never seen before, and finally on turn twenty-one he managed a win. That it was by the skin of his teeth didn't matter: he'd beaten the fifth seed in the tournament.

"Guess I've still got some tricks up my sleeve," he said to Piper and Percy after they'd congratulated him.

"So I see," Piper said. "Annabeth won, obviously."

"Good for her," Jason said. "If she can make it through the round of sixteen all right, she's guaranteed to get a rating. Even if she loses she could still pull it off with a decent victory point count."

"Pull what off?" Annabeth asked, sitting down beside them.

"Getting a rating at your first tournament," Jason said. "You're doing great!"

"Well," she said modestly, "it was a pretty easy match. _You're_ the one who just beat number five. I should be congratulating you."

"Thanks," he said.

"This is the nerdiest thing I've ever done, and I'm not even _playing_ ," Percy said, looking around. "I love it. I didn't realize this many people still played Mythomagic."

"This is nothing," Jason said. "You should see the big tournaments — the Tour d'Olympe in New York is _crazy_. There were five hundred people in it the one time I went; it took the whole weekend."

"Five _hundred_?" Percy asked, incredulous.

"The whole weekend?" Piper echoed.

" _And_ you had to prequalify in one of the regional tournaments," Jason said. "I just squeaked through at the bottom end of the Connecticut qualifier."

"Wow." Percy was impressed.

"Aah, they're posting the next round!" Annabeth said, jumping up and pointing to the score sheet wall. "Come on, Jason."

Jason struggled to his feet and followed.

—

Nico was pleasantly surprised when he saw the name matched with his on the elimination chart: it was Jason Grace again.

"Hey," Jason said as they shook hands and sat down opposite one another at the table. "Guess we're having a rematch."

"Fair warning," Nico said, "I'm better in the long game than in half-games."

"Well, I'll see if I can't put up a fight," Jason said, grinning at him, and Nico realized he was smiling back.

The game started slowly. Jason drew his first good hero (Jason, ironically enough) on turn three, but Nico was able to set out Cerberus as defense on turn five. This back-and-forth continued until turn seventeen, when Nico finally drew a Pomegranate (letting him seize control of one of Jason's heroes) ("Damn! Nice move," Jason said. "I forgot to leave in my counters for Pomegranate."). Then he drew Persephone on turn eighteen, and the tide turned. Jason's deck wasn't strong on defense, and they both knew it. By turn twenty-two, Nico had secured a victory.

"Wow, that was a great game," Jason said, shaking Nico's hand again.

"This is going to sound stupid, but I'd forgotten how much _fun_ this game could be," Nico said, before he could stop himself. "I haven't played a game like that in a while."

"I know what you mean," Jason said, nodding. "It's easy to get caught up in just the strategy and the competition and lose sight of the fact that it's supposed to be a fun game. That was one of the reasons I stopped playing in 2009 — I realized I wasn't _enjoying_ it anymore."

"Well, I'm glad we had a chance to play, even if you don't start doing tournaments regularly again," Nico said, then blushed.

"Me, too," Jason said, apparently oblivious to Nico's embarrassment. Then: "I should probably go check on Annabeth, but I'll be back; she's got two other adoring fans to back her up, but you're here alone."

Then he stood up and was gone. There were butterflies in Nico's stomach as he picked up his deck, signed the score sheet for the referee, and went over to the small pile of his stuff on the far side of the room. He took several deep breaths, trying to calm himself down.

Annabeth had sailed through her match against the twenty-second seed, but the next round suddenly got a lot harder for both of them: Annabeth was up against number three, Nico against number four. True to his word, Jason left Piper and Percy to cheer on Annabeth and came to watch Nico's match against Chase Rissanen, the A2010 from their pool. To Nico's shock, he _won_ : Chase messed up a synergy play on turn eleven, giving Nico an in for the Furies to finish him off. Jason's cheering made him blush again as he shook Chase's hand.

"Good match," Chase said ruefully. "I should have been paying more attention."

"Thanks," Nico said.

"That was lucky," Jason said. "I can't believe Chase Rissanen missed that synergy!"

"You know him?" Nico asked.

"Yeah, he was a B when I was last playing — one of the best players who went to regional tournaments, but he apparently never wanted to play at the next level, so he was never in tournaments rated high enough to get him an A. I guess finally enough As showed up at something local to bump him up to an A himself."

"Huh," Nico said.

"I could never figure him out," Jason said. "Based on that it seems like he'd just be in it for the fun of the game, but he's always so...I don't know, businesslike."

"Yeah," Nico said. "I mean, not that I'm exactly an _emotional_ Mythomagic player, either."

Jason looked at him thoughtfully. "Maybe not, but you're still clearly here for something more than just racking up the victory points."

Nico flushed again.

"Come on, let's go watch Annabeth," Jason said. "You can meet my other friends."

"Uh—" Nico started, but Jason was already on his way over to the table where Annabeth was playing what looked like a tense game against Danny North (B2013), the third B in the tournament, and Nico found himself following.

"Hey, guys. How's it going?" Jason asked Piper, who was staring intently at the cards on the table.

"You're asking _me_?" Piper said. "I have no idea."

"It's turn fourteen, Annabeth's up 4500 victory points to 3900, but the other guy's still at 21 lives, and Annabeth's only at 17," Percy said, not looking up.

Piper and Jason stared at him until he turned to look at them. "What? I catch on quickly."

"Apparently," Jason said. Nico was at this point standing awkwardly next to him, and Jason nodded at him. "Anyway, guys, this is Nico, number twelve. He's the guy who knocked me out in the round of sixteen."

"Hi, Nico," Piper said. "I'm Piper."

"Piper," Nico repeated. "Nice to meet you."

Percy said nothing, having turned his attention back to the game.

"Percy!" Piper said, elbowing him in the side.

"What? Oh," Percy said, turning and seeing Nico. "You're the guy who beat Jason, right?"

"Yeah," Nico said, shifting awkwardly. "I'm Nico di Angelo."

"Percy Jackson," Percy said. "Don't worry, I'm not going to bite. If Jason thinks you're a good guy, I'm happy to trust his judgment."

"That's reassuring," Nico said, glancing at Jason. _Stupid, stupid, stupid_. How had he let himself get dragged over here? Jason's friends weren't interested in meeting him, they just wanted to see if Annabeth would win. "Anyway, I'll leave you guys in peace."

He turned and went back to his pile of stuff by the wall.

—

_Fuck_ , was all Jason could think. Why was he so awkward? He barely even knew Nico; why had he thought he'd respond well to Jason dragging him over to meet his friends?

Annabeth finally managed to get all her demigods on the table and win her match. Her next game was going to be against the second seed; Jason felt a twinge of guilt at abandoning her to watch Nico, but he knew she'd survive.

Jason found Nico glaring at the score sheet.

"What?" Jason asked. "Did they get something wrong?"

"No," Nico said. "It's Robert Brock."

"Who?" Jason asked, looking at the elimination ladder. Sure enough, Nico's opponent was Robert Brock, B2012. "Who's Robert Brock?"

"My archrival," Nico said, without a hint of irony in his voice. Jason started to laugh, then stopped himself when he realized Nico was serious.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh."

"It's fine," Nico said, waving it away. "I've never beaten him yet, and every time we play he has this horrible sneer on his face."

"I know the kind you mean," Jason said, nodding.

"I doubt he _knows_ he's my archrival," Nico said, "but he is."

"Well, better get ready, then," Jason said.

"I was born ready," Nico said grimly, but when Jason looked at him a smiled tugged at the corner of his mouth and finally they both burst out laughing. "Sorry, I know it's absurd," Nico said. "I'd just really like to beat him, just once."

"I totally get it," Jason said. "Well, maybe today's your day!"

"We'll see," Nico said.

It quickly became apparent that it was not. Robert Brock's Cupid was always the bane of Nico's deck, and this game was no exception: as soon as Cupid showed up on turn four, Nico knew it was all over. He managed to hold on until turn eleven, but he just couldn't get around it.

"Nice game," Robert Brock said, smirking slightly as he shook Nico's hand. Nico didn't trust himself to say anything.

"Sorry, man," Jason said as Nico packed up his cards. "That sucks."

"Yeah," Nico said, shrugging as if it didn't matter. "There'll be another time."

"That's the spirit," Jason said. "On the upside, if Annabeth wins this match, it'll be her and Robert Brock in the final, and I'd put good odds on Annabeth to smash him into the ground. Figuratively, of course."

Nico managed a weak smile.

"Shall we go and see?" Jason suggested.

"What the hell, sure, why not?" Jason gestured for Nico to lead the way and headed over to the table where Annabeth's match against Gary McNeil (C2013) was in progress. Annabeth was up both in victory points and in lives, and within a few turns of their arrival, she had secured a win.

"Just you and Robert Brock left," Jason said to her.

"Who?" Annabeth asked.

"Number eight," Jason said. "He beat Nico; now it's up to you to take revenge."

"Is that so?" Annabeth asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Think of it as a favor for me," Jason said.

"I'll see what I can do."

Ten minutes later, Annabeth and Robert Brock had shaken hands and settled down across the table from one another. Tension was high, and there were about thirty people crowded along the sides of the table watching.

"Come on, Annabeth," Jason whispered.

"You can do it, Annabeth!" Piper said aloud before being shushed by the referee.

It was a surprisingly short game. Annabeth's array of heroes swept through Robert Brock's defenses with ease; even his Psyche card couldn't save him. It was all over by turn fifteen, despite a valiant effort by Brock's Cupid after it appeared on turn thirteen. Jason, Piper, Percy, and, much to his own surprise, Nico cheered. It took another half-hour for the final results to be certified and the medals handed out. Nico ended up in third and Jason in eleventh — not bad for either of them, even if they didn't end up with a better ranking.

When it was all done, Annabeth (newly minted B2013) sighed contentedly. "I think I like this game."

Piper snorted and Percy laughed.

"I guess this means you'll want to do more of these," Jason said.

"Well, duh," Annabeth said. "What's the point of having this B if I don't ever get to show it off?"

Jason sighed.

"Well, you don't have to come with me," Annabeth said.

"No, you're right," Jason said. "This was fun." He looked at Nico and smiled; Nico smiled back shyly.

"Well, what do you say — pizza for dinner?" Percy said, looking around at them. "It's a little early, but _I'm_ hungry, and I'd say this is an occasion to celebrate."

"Sure," Piper said, and Annabeth agreed. Jason nodded, then turned to Nico.

"So, um, Nico," he began, then stopped, because he wasn't sure where he was going. "Did you— Would you like to come get dinner with us? Well, with...me, specifically."

"Oh," Nico said, his face turning red. "If...if you don't think your friends would mind."

"I'm sure they won't," Jason said, turning to smile at Annabeth, Percy, and Piper in a way that promised swift death if there was any argument.

"Far be it from us to object to new friends," Piper said, grinning mischievously.

"Good," Jason said. "So, if you want to..." 

"Sure," Nico said, blushing harder. "I'll need a lift, though; I walked over this morning."

"No problem!" Percy said. "You and Jason can come with me — we'll do a guys car and a girls car."

"Bet we'll beat you there!" Piper said. "Come on, Annabeth, let's show these slowpokes what we've got." They turned and hurried out the door.

"Oh, no, you won't," Percy said. "Let's roll, kids."

"Let me just grab my stuff," Nico said, smiling. "I'll go as fast as I can."

"Good," Percy said. "You understand what's at stake here. This is a matter of pride."

When Nico had hurried back to his pile of stuff and started gathering it, Percy turned to Jason. "I like him."

"Me, too," Jason said. "Me, too."


End file.
